Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Should auld acquaintance be forgot?

For those that don't know, this is scottish meaning should we forget old acquantances. Maybe....sometimes, and sometimes we just have to take the first step in reacquainting ourselves with an old friend. After our first step, we'll know whether or not it was a fleeting moment, a mistake, or the last time we'll hear from them.

That being said, I had two very good friends that I used to work with and one crazy summer we became especially close. Unfortunately it was due to one of their divorces. We stuck by Marie's side as much as possible to get her through this rough time. Good times resulted.

Fast forward from 1998 to 2003. Winter was upon us and I can't quite remember how it came about, but that Christmas-time the three of us got together at a local coffee joint and reminisced. It was nice. Judy now had a baby and Marie was moving to Vermont. Boy how things had changed. Again, fast forward to the summer of 2004. I was planning a trip to Disney and Marie had communicated to me that she now lives in Florida, an hour north of Disney. So we planned a get-together while I was on vacation. We had a nice day together over a bottle of wine. We continued to communicate but at times the communication would wane.

Fast forward to early 2006. Marie and I started communicating through instant messaging. This would usually happen late at night and sometimes we'd get so silly we'd practically pee our pants. We would also have some very deep conversations about life and love. So again, we planned a get-together for August when I would be in Disney on vacation. But sadly, it never came to fruition as I needed to stick to my vacation plans on the day she hoped to visit. I felt bad but thankfully she wasn't upset. We continue to talk through instant messaging. And we're becoming familiar with one another's lives all over again. I often think it's too bad she's so far away.

Neither of us have heard from Judy since the Winter of 2003. I told Marie I would send a card to Judy and bought one of those funny cards and placed a note in it. I will mail it today and will be curious to see if she responds. It seems she no longer works where we once all worked together. I only hope she's at the same address as its the only way I know to reach her.

I did have two other people I was extremely close to from that workplace. Michelle, but her life is in a much different place now, busy with small children. I don't expect to ever see her again. And of course someone who was probably my very best LIFE friend. But he and I have moved forward and left one another behind. I have referenced him in previous posts as the old flame who drove by the house one afternoon as I was cutting the lawn.

You know in the movie "The Prince of Tides" when Nick Nolte's character ends the relationship with Barbra Streistand's character to go back to his wife, but every day as he drives over a bridge in his convertible he whispers her name as he drives over the open air as a prayer, as a mantra. So touching. I do quite the same in honor of the old flame. It's a wonder that people I walk by on the sidewalk at work don't think I'm a mental health patient. Only my mantra is "D!ck head." I find myself doing it without even knowing. I guess I'm harboring some resentment.